Thai Stock Market May Erase Friday's Losses

The Thai stock market turned lower again on Friday, one session after it had snapped the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 0.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,720-point plateau although it’s expected to rebound on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm following strong employment data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the energy producers were mitigated by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index sank 7.15 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,719.82 after trading between 1,714.62 and 1,729.88. Volume was 16.834 billion shares worth 57.649 billion baht. There were 825 decliners and 444 gainers, with 390 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks showed a strong move to the upside on Friday as traders reacted to upbeat employment data – allowing the NASDAQ to hit its best closing level in two months.

The Dow added 219.37 points or 0.90 percent to 24,635.21, the Nasdaq spiked 112.21 points or 1.51 percent to 7,554.33 and the S&P surged 29.35 points or 1.08 percent to 2,734.62. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ jumped